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Dr. Lowe How to Prepare Patient-to-Patient Fibromyalgia Research Foundation
The Metabolic Treatment |
Many fibromyalgia patients have told me they've given their physicians our publication titled The Hypometabolism Hypothesis. The publication is a booklet that explains our theoretical approach to fibromyalgia syndrome or FMS, relating it to hypothyroidism and thyroid hormone resistance. Some patients have also said that when they asked the physicians to try our metabolic treatment, the physicians declined, remarking, "But that’s only a theory!" For a time, I thought that I'd best omit the word "hypothesis" from any future publications on our work. But I’ve rejected this idea. I’ve done so because I am first and foremost a science logician, and I use the language of logic and science philosophy—not the marketing language common in mainstream medicine. The fact is, all knowledge, even that of advanced physics, is scientifically "theoretical." It is certainly more accurate, in all fields of scientific knowledge, to speak of "hypotheses" rather than of "facts." And this is especially true of knowledge in the field of inquiry dubiously termed "medical science." Few physicians probably know that 85% of all procedures they use in their practices have never been shown scientifically to be safe, effective, or useful. (This was the conclusion of the Office of Technology Assessment of the United States Congress.) As Anthony Rosner, Ph.D. (Director: Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research) recently wrote: "Only 15% of what we regard as modern medicine appears to have been supported by any scientific evidence at all,[1] and only one percent has been described as sound."[2][3] In light of this, to brush aside our treatment because it is theoretically based is to hold us to a different standard from that of mainstream medicine. The fact is, no hypothesis of fibromyalgia other than the inadequate thyroid hormone regulation hypothesis stands the test of logical analysis. Most physicians who brush aside this hypothesis probably prescribe antidepressant medications for their fibromyalgia patients. In my experience, little do these physicians realize: The "serotonin deficiency hypothesis," upon which their use of antidepressant medication is based, promptly withers under rigorous logical analysis. (I demonstrated this in my book The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia.) Once these physicians come to understand this, they must—if they are to claim they are scientific thinkers—reject the serotonin deficiency hypothesis. Simultaneously, they should stop prescribing antidepressant medications as a treatment for fibromyalgia. They should stop for two reasons: (1) these medications are useless in the long term as a fibromyalgia treatment, and (2) they are also potentially dangerous to fibromyalgia patients. The question remains, "Is the inadequate thyroid hormone regulation hypothesis of fibromyalgia just theoretical?" Of course—as all hypotheses are theoretical. But this question isn't the proper one to ask. The proper question is, "How useful is this hypothesis compared to alternative hypotheses?" And there is a clear-cut answer to this question. The widely-accepted serotonin deficiency hypothesis hasn't lead to an effective treatment, even after years of investigation. I challenge anyone to submit credible evidence that a single patient ever recovered from fibromyalgia with a treatment based on the serotonin deficiency hypothesis. In stark contrast, the inadequate thyroid hormone regulation hypothesis has led us to the treatment call "metabolic rehabilitation." This treatment has enabled scores of fibromyalgia patients to markedly improve or fully recover. (Those who recover no longer meet the criteria for the diagnosis of fibromyalgia.) The effectiveness of the treatment has been documented in stringently controlled clinical trials. So, "Is the inadequate thyroid hormone regulation hypothesis useful compared to alternative hypotheses, such as the serotonin deficiency hypothesis?" The answer is a resounding "Yes!" To date, it is the only hypothesis that has given us an effective treatment—a treatment that enables some fibromyalgia patients to completely free themselves from the condition. In this most important sense, the inadequate thyroid hormone regulation hypothesis is truly useful compared to all others. References
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